On Mon, Dec 16, 2002 at 10:43:46PM -0600, David Dyer-Bennet wrote: > Fides <fides at kludgeco.com> writes: > > > David Dyer-Bennet wrote: [snip] > > > Parody is protected fair use, so that's not at issue. Most fanfic > > > *is* a tragedy. The better fanfic is a tragedy *twice* (they should > > > have been writing something original). > > > > Why? I have read some very good fan fic that wouldn't have been half > > as effective if had been totally original and some that would have > > been impossible if they had been original. If fan fic writers wanted > > to write something totally original they would (and some do that as > > well) but that isn't what they are trying to do when they write fic. > > Rehashing somebody else's universe just isn't very interesting for me > to read. For somebody with actual talent to get trapped into it is > doubly tragic. Um. Oh dear. I love you anyway. 8-) However: In the first place, from one viewpoint, several of my novels are fan fiction set in the universe of the Child Ballads. I think fan fiction is a natural human activity, and the line between it and original fiction is very blurry. In addition, what some people have an actual talent FOR is that kind of writing, so that's not a tragedy for them to be doing it. And finally, good fan fiction doesn't rehash. It transforms, it sheds light in dark corners, it subverts, it brings out or invents subtext and nuance; it can be alternate history or revisionist history or both. I've also thought recently that one reason I like fan fiction is that I find TV and movies compelling and even addictive, but ultimately lacking in what I like most about fiction. Fan fiction, by turning their universes into prose, translates those universes into a language I can appreciate. This would also explain why I really do not care at ALL for fan fiction based on original prose fiction. That's already in the right language for me and very few writers, whatever their basic caliber, can successfully (by my standards) write in the universe of a writer I love. The difficulties are very real, and I'm sure there could be fan fiction written based on my work that I would want to burn three times, just to be sure. But I think it can be just as creative as historical fiction, mainstream fiction, or any kind of imaginative fiction that is not set in wholly invented worlds. -- Pamela Dean Dyer-Bennet (pddb at demesne.com) "I will open my heart to a blank page and interview the witnesses." John M. Ford, "Shared World"